"There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun.
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God I know I'm one"
-- The Animals, "House of the Rising Sun"

I really, really, really, really, really hate Daylight Saving Time (not "savings time", as one friend had the decency to point out to me yesterday. No "s" at the end of "saving").

First off, it's an affront to our biology. Our bodies work with a certain set of cycles and rhythms, and DST disrupts those cycles. Sometimes for weeks and some people never adapt at all. DST results in lack of sleep and all the obnoxious side effects that accompany that (irritability, inability to focus/attention deficit, inability to multitask, depression, anxiety, and, in some cases, increased likelihood of heart attack and suicide). For more details, here's some links (that I found on Google while looking for convenient evidence to support my point):

• Houston Chronicle
• ScienceDaily

Second, the idea that DST saves energy is faulty, especially as we've changed how we use energy in the world. In fact, studies actually seem to contradict that DST has any effect on energy usage any more (if it really ever did). Behold my use of Wikipedia to support my agenda!!

Third, why do we have to fool ourselves by changing the clocks if we honestly think we need more daylight? Why not just have Summer Hours for places of business that find it useful and let the rest of us keep our hour? Are we so advanced as a species that lying to ourselves is the most productive choice?

Fourth, they've extended DST to the majority of the year now. It starts in March and doesn't end until November. Two-thirds of the year is currently spent in DST - more time than we spend in our "regular" timezone. Really? This does not make sense! (Link to: Chewbacca defense)

Fifth... Calling it DST makes it sound like some kind of disorder of the brain or disease. I'm going to refer to it as such from here on out. "I'm dealing with DST! It's not my fault! I didn't ask for this!"

Now that I'm done with my rant, let's get back to the point of my blog, shall we?

Back on the 3rd, I got to go to the Witches' Ball in Benicia. It suffered from the usual problems that Pagan Alliance events seem to regularly suffer from - a lack of any real advertising, very little seating if you didn't pay for a VIP ticket, and bad sound techs (seriously, have none of these guys heard of doing sound checks before people start showing up?). They also suffered from an extra problem this year, entirely outside of their purview - ridiculous gas prices kept a large number of the usual attendees from SF and the South Bay from making it out.

The DJ was pretty awesome, though. Got some good gothy tunes, at least for part of the evening. Also, the mead was excellent.

I also got to go to Hexenfest on the 9th. This is a first shot at a, potentially, annual event. Primarily put together by tribal rock outfit Pandemonaeon, it also featured goth-rock act The RaZor Skyline and a number of local bellydancers.

The RaZor Skyline was quite good. A little more rock than goth, they still had some solid tunes and a strong line-up. Hopefully we'll be seeing more of them in the future.

I was also surprised and delighted to see one of my favorite bellydancing divas, Dusty Paik of Snake Church, get up onstage to dance with them. Yay!!

Between stage acts, bellydancing by Anaar and Morpheus Ravenna was quite lovely as well (I particularly enjoyed Anaar's use of fans and silks).

And then we got Pandemonaeon to wrap the evening up. Best way to describe them might be Fleetwood Mac if Fleetwood Mac were more metal. Definitely good music to dance to if you like to dance in the pseudo-folk fashion that a lot of pagans do.

Also, the bar at the Oakland Metro Operahouse is pretty good for such a small bar. Hey, a man has to have his priorities, and mine apparently involve getting drunk.

Upcoming events to be aware of:

• Club Nocturne on 3/17
• Death Guild's multi-night 19th Anniversary Bash from 3/18 to 3/21 (featuring some really awesome bands!!)
• The Hubba Hubba Revue's "Goth Night" in celebration of Death Guild's anniversary on 3/22
  

-- Mr. M.

"Time, time, time.
See what's become of me?
While I looked around
for my possibilities.
I was so hard to please."
-- Simon and Garfunkel, "Hazy Shade of Winter"

So BLEH.

Entirely too much going on in real life keeping me from the scene. Giving time to people I like. Having time chiseled from me by people I don't. Some other really ridiculous stuff that isn't worth going into. And work, work, work.

Anyway... some late updates -

I'll be at the Witches' Ball in Benicia on Saturday 3/3 and will probably end up hitting Hexenfest in Oakland on the following Friday 3/9. Time to throw some support to my pagan peeps, since I missed Pantheacon and didn't even get around to listing it on the site (WTF, right?).

I've also done a little cleaning up of the "One-Time Events" page, to get it back up to date. Whee!!

P.S. Don't forget about the following stuff coming up over the next couple of weeks if pagan-y stuff doesn't float your proverbial boat:

3/1 - Club Apparition
3/2 - Strangelove: The Cure Tribute Night
3/3 - Disorder (and the aforementioned Witches' Ball)
3/7 - Anti/Life's DISASTER!
3/8 - The Lost Room and Club Apparition
3/9 - Dark Shadows (and the aforementioned Hexenfest)
3/10 - Wumpskate and Rocky Horror

-- Mr. M.

"It seems the man who cured the globe
cannot stop his own extinction...
But I can go out with a BANG!!!

Things you see in a graveyard.
Things you see in a graveyard."
-- Repo: The Genetic Opera, "Things You See In a Graveyard"

Le Bal des Vampires was excellent. I'm not really sure how else to describe it.

DJs DarkMoon and Persephone were amazing, as always, playing a mix of goth, early 80s, and other pop classics on the bottom floor of the venue. I also got a short chat with the very lovely DJ Femme Mystique, who was in attendance as well.

The mid-floor was dominated by a set of four lovely singers (one of which doubled as an harpist) who spent much of the evening singing old songs (often a capella) from centuries past. Also, a set of tarot readers whom, I am sorry to say, I did not get a chance to take advantage of.

The top floor was quite a delight. For the majority of the night, this giant ballroom was a scene of amazing cotillions and elegant waltzes, all accompanied by the excellent musical contributions of period musical providers Bangers&Mash. In fact, yours truly had the pleasure and delight of dancing his first real waltz (for which I'd love to thank the extremely lovely and terribly kind Ms. Mina). I danced a total of four waltzes that night, thanks to the immensely pleasant and infinitely patient women that asked me to dance. I enjoyed this aspect so much that I am tempted to make PEERS events a rather regular part of my tour... I just wish I had better clothes for all those period-specific gatherings for which PEERS is famous. I certainly hope to advertise more of their gatherings on SFGothic.net.

Also, the mid-evening performance by the Theater of Vampires (if I recall their name correctly, of course) was quite amusing in and of itself. Lots of fun-making regarding Twilight and the pro-Prop 8 crowd, which, really, brought immense joy to my heart on both counts.

As to my fellow attendees?  What a beautiful bunch of folks (and I'm not just referring to the ladies; though, as to them specifically, I can only say "WOW"). They were pleasant and their costumes, whether Louis period, Victorian, Edwardian, Georgian, 1920s, 1930s, fictional, whatever, they were fantastic. Not a single "tourist" in the crowd - everyone was in some kind of costume. I cannot convey how much this... completeness infected the event. It made it so enjoyable to my sense of verisimilitude and beauty. It was like walking through some amazing pastiche of history with a smattering of fictional awesomeness (props to the Blade and Joker .

Final assessment: Mister M needs to attend more PEERS events. Seriously awesome.

As to the coming weeks - I may try to hit Dark Shadows on Friday. And I definitely plan on being at Club Nocturne on the 26th. I can't promise anything more than that, but the VNV Nation show on 11/21 and Dark Sparkle on 11/23 both seem like they could be great fun. Either way, I hope to see you kiddies out and about.

-- Mr. M.
_

"Hands cover whispers of the lovers' fright -
Fear-cloaked renditions of that autumn night.
Digging up rumors of the kids in the park.
What awful things happened in the dark?"
-- The Birthday Massacre, "Lover's End"

ShadowDance was fucking glorious. Beautiful, elegant, mysterious, awesome, decadent. I could just keep listing adjectives for a day and a half and still not run out of great things to say.

Ariellah has created something of which to be truly proud. A thing of beauty and majesty. A place of visions and nightmares gone so exquisitely wrong.

Honestly, I don't even know where to begin, because there was just so much amazing-ness crammed into those two nights. So I'll try to hit some of the highlights of each evening. If I leave someone out, I'm terribly sorry, because there was just entirely too much to remember it all clearly.

Evening One: Shadowside at the Vagabond

The performances started with an eerie set by goth-industrial band Lestat, which was a good kick-off to the evening.

Next, I finally had the pleasure of seeing Madame Deidre Anaid perform her elegantly vampiric Rhapsody. Her fan-work was especially well-done, but the whole thing was quite lovely.

And later came the Deshret Dance Company's Nihil, a piece of stark energy and brutal intensity. Not to mention the immense speed and amount of shimmy-ing that those ladies, including Ariellah herself, pulled of.

There were several other amazing performances that first night, but in addition to the ones that are a blur, I also had to leave before Act III began (sometimes things just come up), so I missed out on some other fantastic performances, for which I am truly sorry. I especially regret missing these two: Sataray's musical stylings (hopefully I'll be able to pick the album up in the near future) and Dusty Paik of Snake Church, whom I've seen just enough of to know that I adore her.

Evening Two: ShadowDance at the Oakland Metro Opera House

The night started off with a strong spiritual element, thanks to the vocal artistry of Soriah. Known for his use of Tuvic Throat Singing, Soriah brought us a haunting vision of light and darkness beyond the veil, while accompanied by a male dancer (whose name I did not catch, I'm ashamed to say) whose dancing reminded me of a combination of Native American and Samoan dances that I have seen. An exquisite combination of visual and aural input.

Darkstar brought as an homage to Winston Churchill, a piece of dancing tied into that British sense of victory in the face of adversity and stoicism in the face of very possible annihilation. A celebration of strength and beauty found in resolve.

Eerie De Scent - this piece was quite amazing. With bits of metal strapped to her body, Eerie used a portable grinder to fire sparks at dark demonic visions cast in projection behind her. It was like watching a Japanese shadow-play turned into a video game turned into some kind of grandiose visual opera. It was epic, it was powerful, and it was fantastic.

Inman and Undercrypt performed a combination monologue and dance performance - a tale of madness, envy, and vicious murder. A story relating how we can never escape the things we've done and that the murderer's toll may be worse than that of her victim.

The Lady Fred brought us a charming and sexy dance interpretation of Webber's Phantom of the Opera. Elegant and lovely, the Lady Fred was a soft vision of illusions shed to reveal the darkness beneath.

Finally, came Rachel Brice. Her piece was the top of the show, if I have to draw any kind of comparison. An image of black-clad shadow, we were treated to a shedding of veils to expose the beauty beneath - only to finally have revealed to us a lovely skull-painted face and a dance of death, where, instead of a sword, this lady balanced a scythe upon her head and twirled to that elegant dark music, heavy with the drum-beat of death, like a fading heart gasping through its last throes. Such a wondrous nightmare vision.

So, now that I've bragged about all the awesome I saw this weekend, allow me to brag about the awesome for next weekend: Le Bal des Vampires will be happening at the Alameda Elks Lodge. It looks like tickets are still for sale! So if you want to dance with the (un)dead, you should get a move on - because they won't be selling tickets at the door!

"I love the night.
I like it spooky.
Werewolves and their bites.
I like it spooky.
Skeletons laughing at your fright.
I like it spooky.
A black witch in green light.
I like it spooky."
-- God Module, "Spooky"

Stupid computers. So I had this entry all finished up and when I went to post it, my browser locked. Then crashed. Lost the whole post.

Here's try number two. With added frustration for flavoring.

So any of you who managed to make it out to Death Guild's Halloween celebration last night (10/31) probably don't need me to tell you how fucking amazing it was. Really, the only point in going into it is to rub salt into the wound for those that were unavailable.

Hand me the salt, please.

Seriously, to those that couldn't make it, you missed an awesome night. The Death Guild DJs tore the place up. And the people were packed in. This latter bit would have been a problem, had it not been so much fun to just stand there and check out the costumes.

For example: dread Cthulhu was in attendance.

This picture does not do Cthulhu justice by a long shot. Suffice to say, that most squamously tendril'd Great Old One was looking very dapper and posed not once, but twice, since my stupid phone doesn't have any storage space and deleted the first image (which looked a hell of a lot better than this one).

Hopefully, he doesn't come from the ocean depths and swallow me in retribution. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

So yeah, the costumes were truly amazing and so was most of the crowd.

After a few hours of dancing (during which, I might add, all of my song requests got played), we got another treat at midnight: a live rope-and-paint bondage-art performance by Tensei Sugahara, Japanese artist/model/designer/etc. (Thanks to the auspices of the folks at Synchro MG, who are organizing Tensei's tour).

As part of Tensei's performance, a number of lovely local models and dancers were fit to be tied (he he) and then splattered with paint (from both brushes and a paint-infused whip), including one of the darlings of the San Francisco scene: Mistress Fushia of the Visceral Vixens.

I did hear some complaints about the bondage not being "bondage-y" enough, but, I'll be honest, I think those folks were expecting a BDSM show and not a Bondage-As-One-Part-of-a-Full-Performance-Art-Piece. And seriously, folks. This is Death Guild. You want to see hardcore bondage? Go to Bondage-A-Go-Go. That's why it exists.

In my opinion (which all of you already know is the only opinion that matters), Tensei's work on stage was glorious, sultry, and sexy (and not just because of his gorgeous models). It had the feel of intensely intimate and beautifully deviant visual kei. And, as my acquaintance Ryan put it: "The ropes create a negative space for the paint. Awesome." Awesome, indeed.

I had planned on buying some of his work before bailing, but, like a goof (a really tired goof, I'll admit), I forgot until I was on the Bay Bridge on my way back to my hole.

The rest of the evening went swimmingly. I actually ran out of business cards for the site, which was a new experience. Met lots of new people, including the very charming DJ Femme Mystique. And hung out with many of other people I've had the pleasure to meet in the past. And I danced until my fucking legs ached and it was wondrous.

My only complaint (I know, I always seem to have at least one): as the wee hours of the morning came and the true goths and the Halloween crowd started to filter out, I started to notice a ring of uber-creepy guys that looked like the preppy detritus from some other club just standing around the edges leering at the women on the dance floor - like medical waste left behind from a rapidly dropping tide. They were really fucking gross and I wish they weren't there. Blech!

But besides that really disgusting display of humanity, the rest of the night was seriously fucking awesome. I stayed right up until the last song, then slipped out and got back to my bed well after 3 a.m.

Later this week, on both Friday and Saturday night (11/4 and 11/5, respectively), I'll be at Ariellah's ShadowDance, which is sounding more and more excellent every time I think about it. And then, the following Saturday (11/12), I'll be at Le Bal des Vampires, also in Oakland.

Hopefully I'll see some of you darklings out there.

-- Mr. M.

"But down in the underground,
You'll find someone true.
Down in the underground,
A land serene,
A crystal moon..."
-- David Bowie, "Underground"

So I just had a wonderful evening last night. And where did I have it?

Attending the season-opening performance of the Vespertine Circus at the Vagabond Ballroom.

Let's start with the music: the Vespertine Orchestra (who is not always in attendance, as I understand) struck me as a strange mix of Emilie Autumn and calliope music. Which, if you've heard Ms. Autumn before, you probably realize is actually fairly awesome mix and perfect for a small circus. (That sounds like a dig at Emilie Autumn somehow... it isn't really).

When the Orchestra wasn't playing, bits and pieces of interesting discordia was piped through the speakers, including bits from certain awesome soundtracks (I definitely heard some Sherlock Holmes in there).

As to the performance: a little bit vaudeville, a little bit punk, a little bit romantic, and a whole lot of charm; the entire evening was filled with astonishing delights and amazing acrobatics, amusing clowns and astounding juggling.

The ringmaster, Dr. Jack, was striking in his eye-directing bombasity and hoodwinking charlatanry. I was near to buying a bit of snake-oil from him myself.

Clowns Phineas and James MacConn did daring acts of balance and great physical comedy, and, along with fellow clown Elijah, they performed some amazing jugglery (and no shortage of tomfoolery).

The Mechanical Doll, Jezebel Wilder, was lovely and graceful, not to mention an elegant vision of beauty during her aerial silk ballet. While the handsome Phineas (mentioned above) also does positively astounding rope work himself.

And Elijah, one of the newest members of the crew, pulls off some immensely awesome hoop work.

Last night they were also accompanied by Jingles Frasier, a bellydancer extraordinaire, with some excellent shimmy and lots of jingle. Quite the pleasure to watch.

And finally, my personal favorite: La Petite Tilly Rex, the very tiny and super adorable enfant-terrible of the Vespertine's clown-set. She is a physical humorist of no mean talents. Also, she eats fire. So rather super awesome, too.

I don't want to ruin all the surprises for you, so I'll leave it at that.

The fact of the matter is that the Vespertine Circus was an immense delight, and my words can't really endorse or recommend them nearly as well as they deserve. A charming set of performers and personae who put on a lovely show in a comfortable space and are a pure joy to watch. They make me want to run off and join the circus.

Certainly worth a Friday evening with friends or a significant other (or potential significant other, hint, hint). Though I'd definitely recommend pre-ordering your tickets either way for the best deal on entry - not that this crew isn't worth full admission - just that you should take advantage of the fact that they are so willing to give you such a great price on such a lovely evening.

And for those that are wondering, I'll likely be at Club Nocturne tonight at the very same Vagabond Ballroom. Feel free to stop by and buy me a drink.

-- Mr. M.